Platonically
by LTC
Summary: Virgil knows about the rumors, he just isn’t sure what to think of them. VR slash, but Virgil’s in denial.
1. Virgil denies

**Summary**: Virgil knows about the rumors, he just isn't sure what to think of them. VR slash, but Virgil's in denial.

**Rating**: K+ or whatever the hell the new 'PG' is. Does anyone care to enlighten me as to the reason decided to confuse everyone?

**Disclaimer**: If I owned, the boys' outfits would be a lot skimpier and Daisy would be out of the picture.

**Platonically**

He thought they were looking at him again. It was hard to tell- it wasn't as though he could turn around. He sort of cricks his neck and tries to glance at the seats behind him. Out of the corner of his eye he can see two of the soccer girls very carefully not looking at him. They seem to be whispering about something.

Well, damn them. They didn't know what they were talking about. Sheesh, like it was a crime for someone to fall asleep. Bus rides did it to the guy. So he didn't want to wake him up- they were out late the night before. It's not like it meant, _that_. It wasn't like he wanted him to, he just did.

Richie sort of sighs and rubs his head against Virgil's shoulder. His hair tickles Virgil's neck. His glasses slip down his nose. Thanks Richie. If they weren't talking before. Not Richie's fault. It just really makes Virgil mad. Couldn't a guy have friends anymore without getting _talked_ about?

All right, so maybe they spent a lot of time together. Why shouldn't they? Richie was fun, and they liked the same things and besides, it wasn't as though they had a lot of other friends. Not close, at least, unless you counted Daisy and Freida, which Virgil didn't, seeing as Freida barely noticed them unless she had a project to do, and he could hardly even talk to Daisy without feeling nervous. Richie was the kind of guy that you just felt at ease with, so that from the first day they'd met he'd felt like he'd known the guy all his life. And you could just hang out with him without having to decorate for Homecoming or something as an excuse. Once they had spent a whole day doing nothing but seeing how many marshmallows they could eat without throwing up, a contest that Richie, despite looking so skinny he was going to fall out of his clothes, easily won.

And they had to stick together, right? Since the Bang, he didn't get picked on so much anymore. Superhero self-confidence, all the bullies moved on to bigger crime, finally growing into his limbs, who knew? But before, well, there were times when Richie was the only guy who'd stand up for him. People were always giving them odd looks. Well. If he were being perfectly honest, he'd admit that people were always giving Richie odd looks. He'd usually had no trouble blending in, making friends, as long as jerks like F-Stop or whatever he was called then weren't making him miserable. But Richie never really mastered the blending thing, so he got the looks.

Which was stupid! Richie was a great guy. Yeah, even before he became a genius, he preferred machines to people and designing weird gadgets to school dances and football games, but so? Yeah, Richie wasn't the kind of guy who knew how people worked. But that never mattered. He knew how machines worked, and how the plots of Virgil's kind of movies and comic books worked, and more importantly he knew how Virgil worked. Sometimes it was scary, the way he would just shake his head and give him that ironic twist-upped-lips-arched-eyebrow face, like when he talked about his little crush on Daisy, like he knew something Virgil didn't and was just waiting for him to figure it out. Kind of how the teacher makes you find the error on your math test yourself, when he knows where it is all along. Must be a genius thing, only Virgil remembers that Richie did that long before he starting becoming Gear.

Virgil thought Richie knew about the things people said about them. He never said anything, but sometimes when Virgil felt glances on the back of head, maybe if he just happened to have his arm around Richie's shoulders or something, he'd look over and Richie would be giving him the ironic look, only just out of the corner of his eye? lips? face? It always made Virgil go red, because how could he not care that people thought _that_? It was awkward, and he tried to show them, so that for weeks he wouldn't even touch Richie and he'd flirt with Daisy every time he'd get the chance, just so they would realize that they were just hanging out, y'know?

Richie didn't help- always getting so ticked off and trying to drag him away from Daisy and never trying to get any girls of his own, which wouldn't have been so hard, because even though they thought he was odd, he was still, you know, cute. Well, Virgil really wouldn't know that, but that's what the girls thought, you could tell. Maybe it was the earring, or the glasses. But Richie never helped, he didn't even care about Virgil's reputation, or that people thought he was Virgil's- he couldn't even think the mortifying word- _boyfriend._ Eesh. Richie never cared about stuff like that. He shrugged and grinned, or did that lunatic laugh he had, or just played along. In a way you had to admire it, except it was so…weird.

So what if Richie practically lived at Virgil's house? He just didn't always get along with his parents. It wasn't like he was going to kick Richie out. He'd tried it before, and caught him sleeping on the couch in the gas station the next morning. And anyways, they were friends, friends were supposed to do stuff like that. It wasn't like they made out- they usually just watched movies and stuff. Okay, there was that one time- but they had been up late, it wasn't their fault what proximity they had been in when they fell asleep. Daisy and Freida hugged and stuff sometimes. Richie hadn't even looked embarrassed, which was frustrating, because Virgil sure was. Stupid ironic look.

But still, they didn't have to talk about them like that, because he didn't give a damn, because he wasn't going to wake Richie up because he didn't mind. If Richie woke up, he'd tell him off and make him mind Virgil's personal space. Until then, well.

The bus bumps a bit when it hits a pothole, and Richie's body is jostled into Virgil's shoulder. He grumbles really low, and Virgil touches a concerned hand to his cheek.

Richie yawns. 'Mmmm, hey, V,' he mutters, and then shifts over a bit off Virgil. He grins and chuckles. ''m really tired.'

'Yeah, I know,' said Virgil. 'S'okay, you took the late patrol.'

'Do you mind if I-' says Richie, who lays his head back on Virgil's shoulder and shuts his eyes. Virgil opens his mouth to answer, although he doesn't know which one he'll say, but Richie mumbles something and his glasses slip down his nose and he buries his face into Virgil's jacket and he's already back asleep with a not-so-ironic smile on his face.

Virgil looks at Richie's slipping glasses and in one deft movement, he reaches around Richie's back, plucks the glasses from his face, and places them in the sleeping boy's palm. His fingers close around the metal wires, other fingers are brushed against the hand. Virgil, despite being pinned to the bus seat by his friend's body, turns his head and gives a defiant glare at the people behind him. It isn't any of their business, anyway.


	2. Daisy worries

**Platonically**

**Summary: **There might be some impediments in the way of Daisy's plans for Virgil. Slash VR, but Virgil's still denying it.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything, especially not Daisy. I like her, she's just a bit inconvenient, and she's just a little bitter here.

**Rating:** K+ just because I can't remember if there was anything naughty in this chapter.

**Author's Note: **I wasn't planning on continuing this, beyond a possible Virgil-comes-to-his-senses chapter, but I was absolutely blown away by the wonderful reviews I've gotten. Thanks so much! I know it's easy to read a story and then just pass it by, so thank you so much for telling me you liked it, and thanks to leev for giving me the plot bunny of writing multiple perspectives. All of you made my Monday-after-Spring-Break better than it had any right to be.

So, I'm going to write this story from the POVs of Daisy, Hotsreak, Sharon, Richie, Virgil-again, and Mr. Hawkins, and possibly Freida. But if there's anyone else you want, mention that in your review- I'm absolutely a sucker for reviewers, if you haven't noticed.

Okay, so she liked him. It wasn't some secret. School had been miserable before Virgil; her parents were nervous about public school so they made her stay even though she'd never made any friends and the students had all been so arrogant and condescending or else just completely serious, god help her, she liked a guy with a sense of humor. And Virgil had come and been smart, much smarter than anyone had given him credit for, but so funny and cool and nice, and, well, cute. So she liked him. And that was okay, because she kind of thought he liked her back. So it was going to work out okay, just perfect.

Well, all right, there was the Static problem. So she had a bit of a crush on Static- who cared? Same with every girl in Dakota these days. He'd saved her life. A lot of times he'd done it now, and he remembered her name now, emblazoned it in the sky for her, and he just saved her so often that she wondered if he followed her just to do it. Well, he was handsome and brave and a superhero, so, well, come on. It was nothing really; it was like liking Brad Pitt because you could read about them in the paper and sort of sigh and daydream, but you knew that it was just a little celebrity crush.

If she _really_ had a choice, Virgil or Static? The two had a similar sense of humor, but aside from that, almost polar opposites. Static was brave and amazing, but how could you even be with a guy who would never even be able to take off his mask? He was so big, so distant, so unknown. Then there was Virgil, who was sweet and likeable but not very dependable, always coming late, always making excuses and lies for reasons she didn't understand, because he seemed honest and he liked her, but then the least sign of danger and Virgil would be gone, nowhere to be found, leaving her alone to deal with whatever threatened her until Static showed up. Alright, she wished that maybe Virgil could be braver, or more reliable, but Static was an unrealistic goal, a smart girl like Daisy _knew_ that, and she liked him. So it was okay.

Except for one problem. She wondered sometimes, half jokingly, half worried, as to whether he'd come on dates with them and eat their popcorn, or tag along after them at prom, and if he'd be at their house when she met his parents, and if they got married if he'd wind up sleeping on the couch, eating their food and telling the kids to call him 'Uncle Richie.' I mean, come on, she liked him, even if he didn't believe her, but had he ever heard of personal space? It seemed like just when she was in the middle of helping Virgil with his history homework or something, there came Richie with the plans to some _thing_ he wanted to build and dragging Virgil off to look at it. And sometimes Virgil would give her a helpless little shrug and sometimes he would forget she was there but always he would just up and go.

And it wasn't like he couldn't have shown Virgil later. That was the creepy part. Daisy didn't think Richie was creepy, not like other kids did, but sometimes you had to wonder what the deal was. Well, something must be bad, since the guy practically lives at Virgil's house, so maybe you couldn't blame him for being a bit clingy. But the first time she'd met him, she'd been so excited about meeting the guy Virgil talked almost non-stop about, but then that look he'd gave her, like her very presence at his school was a betrayal, like she was, who knew, an adulteress or something. And it never really went away, even if he was friendly when Virgil was around. And it hurt, because people liked Daisy, and she tried so much and he wouldn't so much as wave to her in the halls. It wasn't like he owned Virgil.

And then she heard what people said, and, well, she knew Virgil liked her, right? Only it would make sense for Richie, because, well, he never really noticed girls and it was the best way to explain the weird _obsession_ he had with Virgil. She never saw him even try to talk to someone else.

She didn't mean to sound like that. She _liked_ Richie. Really. It was just- she wished she could have a chance with Virgil, too. She just wanted for once for Virgil to tell him off, to ask him to just leave him alone, to ask him to just find some other friends, for once, because it was getting a bit old to have him always following them around.

But Virgil would never do that, Daisy wasn't sure he could do that. She'd seen them separated before in a fight, although of course it wasn't on her behalf, and Virgil, well, he just wasn't Virgil to the point she missed Richie. Virgil _drew_ something from Richie, all the good jokes, for one, and the secret little plans they kept from her, and the way they could just talk about things that made no sense. And maybe she could even see the flicker of something else there, too. But whatever drove that weird friendship, she had to admit, she liked Virgil but she knew, no matter what, no matter how much she tried, even if they did go out and fall in love and get married, she would never be like Richie to him.

Maybe she'd just have to hold out for Static, instead.


	3. Frieda wishes

**Summary:** Frieda wishes that she could have someone like that.

**Rating: **T, for some strong language.

**Disclaimer:** It's probably a good thing I don't own it- the boys would be too busy making out in the gas station to fight crime.

**Author's Note**: I really like Frieda. I was worried about doing this, because I want to get her right, but Saturn's Hikari requested it. As for other pairings, leev and nerb both suggested Adam, so if I can think of something to write, I'll do that. And I really liked Athena2693's suggestion of Mr. Foley- I'll see if I can think of anything to do with that. And for everyone that asked about Richie's POV, don't worry, it's already written, but it won't come until later chapters.

Thanks for your reviews!

**Platonically**

People _so_ need to just grow up. Come on, it's like, the 21st century already. Boys can be so stupid- some boys can't see what's plain, right there, in front of their face- and others do see and laugh and whisper about it. And she just can't see what's so wrong with being in love.

This is about, of course, Richie and Virgil; or more likely just Richie because Virgil happens to fall into that first category of stupid boys. Like when he totally liked her, and she did everything she could to get him to finally just go and ask her out, and then he never even does.

But then there was that day when she found him, the other boy, outside the gym after school. And since then, she hasn't cared, not one bit, that he never asked her and never asked Daisy, either. Maybe it was a bit too bad- she thought Richie was cute, although, come to think of it, she thought he was cuter now, sweet and loyal and so sad and hopeless that she wished with all her heart that it would just be okay for him.

She never told Daisy. How could she? Frieda wished that she could somehow just will her best friend to stop chasing after Virgil, but she couldn't do that and she would never say, because who could possibly forget how he looked?

She hadn't even meant to intrude, but there she was, on her way to journalism, and there _he_ was, skinny white-faced almost like a little boy, just hunched there next to the gym looking at the ground so she couldn't see his face, but she could see the glasses in his hands and the red streaks down the sides of his cheeks. And it was so strange she felt almost sick, like she just wanted to run away, because here he was, the kid who made stupid jokes with Virgil and had just that silly grin plastered on his face, and now he was _crying_, and oh, god, what was she supposed to do? What could she even say?

Well, she asked him, and he told her it was nothing, but he was never good at keeping secrets, was he? So she just took his hand and then he stood and just sort of followed limply, and it only took one trip for sodas down at Burger Fool for him to start sniffling again and tell her everything, and then he looked up at her and said 'You can't tell _anyone_, do you understand? Not even Daisy. And especially not- _him_.' He sort of sighed the last word and that's how she knew she would never tell.

So why did people have to make things harder for them? Like that _jerk_ Nick who just sort of grins at them when they pass by and makes really disgusting hard gestures behind their backs and she knows Richie knows. He's always been smart like that, and she can't see how it doesn't bother him, but it never bothers him, none of it ever wears him down except that one time, and you really have to admire him for it, y'know?

Like, maybe sometimes people think she's kind of a ditz, which is really unfair because they still say it even when she gets good grades and they act like she just took journalism to get to know the football boys when she's really very determined and cares about issues and stuff and wants to be a real reporter someday, right? So she sometimes lets it get to her and gets mad at people, and how much harder is it for Richie? And okay, she has to admit, she sometimes goes through boys a little fast, like she loves him one day and then is so over him tomorrow, and how can he do it? Just sit there and wait and hope and never say anything? It will work out eventually. Virgil _really_ cares about Richie, in a way most boys wouldn't admit they cared, a way that's really sweet, and she has to admit they're way closer and her and Daisy are, and he can't not like him. Well, he's really into Daisy, but he could like the other side, too, right? Just because she really likes guys doesn't mean that she's never checked out Daisy before. And it would be so great and _adorable_ and perfect if they just were together, because it was just so romantic that it all _had_ to turn out okay.

And maybe she feels a little jealous. Why? Well, Richie's great and cute and just such an _awesome_ guy, but so's Virgil, anyway, and it's not like she wishes he was into her instead. It's just unfair because she sometimes has to wonder if anyone could ever sit outside the gym crying over her, and if she'd ever know if someone did, or if they all just thought she was a stupid ditz who ran the decorating committee.

But she isn't going to let stupid boys ruin it for them, and she already learned the hard way not to think that bastard Nick was just some harmless idiot or to be flattered that he liked her or anything. Because once that sort of attention would have been enough to get her giggly, but it just didn't seem _enough_ anymore. So when she sees him laughing his head off with his stupid friends over Richie and Virgil, and then she sees him notice her and give her that big grin of his that is somehow just as gross and suggestive, and she walks by and flips him off and she sees out of the corner of her eye the look that is just frozen on her face, and she smiles.


	4. Hotstreak thinks

**Disclaimer**: I think you've figured it out by now.

**Additional Disclaimer:** The views stated by Hotstreak do not necessarily represent the views of the author. I don't think Richie is pathetic!

**Rating: **T for strong language, because it's Hotstreak, for God's sake.

**Author's Note:** Because Estel Baggins, absolutely correctly, though Richie was a bit too wimpy in the last chapter. So now he gets to kick some ass.

Incidentally, so no one gets confused- I didn't know what to call Hotstreak, since he has three names, so I just called him Hotstreak for the parts he's a bang baby and F-Stop for the parts he's not. I doubt he calls himself Francis, even in his head.

I wrote this when I was deathly ill, so it might suck. I have learned never to write late at night, early in the morning, or while deathly ill. It always turns into a soap opera.

Please review! I love you all!

**Platonically**

Damn, was he in trouble. Damn, damn, damn, it wasn't supposed to go like this. He was the weak one. Carmen could take him out. _Ferret_ could probably take him out. He was the weak one, the one that cracked jokes and then lost the fight, the one that gave Static enough distraction to let everyone get out. Not a challenge. _Static_ was a challenge, and even he used to cower at the sight of Hotstreak. Well, he didn't really cower anymore, but he still knew Hotstreak was powerful, too powerful for wimpy sidekicks to handle.

He pushed hard, making himself fly faster with the sheer pressure he could generate from his balled fists. He thought he might be getting away, but he could hear the whirr of roller blades after him, leaving a gash in the sky behind him. Then he heard the thing move in the sky and he knew he had to dodge but he didn't move fast enough, so it hit him, hard, wrapped around his arms and legs and tightened across his sides. And then he tried to flare up and melt the arms off, but his body crackled like it did when his power was going out and he only had about one second to think 'oh, shit,' before he stopped fighting and started to fall.

So he fell out of the sky and then he slammed straight into the wall, into the brick behind him and then into the balcony of an apartment, which clanged and dented beneath the weight of his fall, but thankfully, didn't give. And then Gear comes down in front of him, and he starts thinking of a plan to escape, because he's done it before, even though he must have fixed the traps so he can't burn them, there's always a way to get away.

Then, he gets a glance of the expression behind the green plastic, and he changes his mind. Because he sees his face and he knows he's beaten, and his only hope is that Ebon or Talon or Shiv or one of the others decides to come back for him. As if that would happen. Besides, he's not sure it'd be good for one of them to take on Gear right now- stupid pansy of a superhero but right now he looks a little scary.

In a way it reminds him of Foley.

Yeah, okay, it was a strange comparison to make. C'mon, Foley? The skinny little kid wouldn't have the guts to get up on those skates, let alone pick a fight with him. Last time he'd met Foley, the guy had practically wet himself. God, Foley made him sick, so weak and pathetic, he just wanted to strangle something; like the way F-Stop would be ready to kick his sorry little ass and he'd just sort of crack a joke until he _had_ to make him scared because it was some nerve, just like Hawkins. What was with that, anyway? He supposed losers had to stick together, but did they have to make it into such a little lovefest, it was disgusting. Your friends didn't need to be permanently attached, they just needed to be around in case you needed to fight someone. Yeah, he could just see himself there, whining to Shiv or Maria or whoever didn't hate him at the moment about how the kids at school were mean to him today or telling them about the time he was in the hospital, or-or talking about the latest hairstyles or whatever losers talked about when they had slumber parties. Fucking pathetic.

That's why Hawkins and Foley were always kind of a joke. Foley because he was weird, Hawkins because he hung out with Foley all the time when he actually used to know people who became something, before the Bang. Like Wade, who didn't run with F-Stop but was still respected, and still looked after Hawkins for some reason even though the first day of junior high Hawkins gave up all that security and connection for what? Slumber parties with Foley? That was what made Virgil so weird- because F-Stop had to admit he had the potential to be a bit more than the nerd, and he never could understand what Foley possibly had to offer that would be worth it, and he wasn't sure he could ever understand. And then he had to go and cozy up to Frieda, who was _his_ girl, even if she hadn't agreed yet, and what the hell did a girl like her see in him, in them, as if he had a chance with a babe like that when everyone knew he was fucking Foley.

He couldn't be allowed to try to get back what he had chosen to give up. And Dakota High had been _his_, before the Bang, when he could set his sights a little higher. And Hawkins wasn't allowed to mess with that; he'd show him what use Foley was in the end, because whatever it was that made them friends sure as hell wasn't going to save him bruised and cut and blacking out in the alley near the science building. He'd show him the way they'd do their stupid handshake, and promise that they'd have each other's back, would never save him for real life. It was almost like he was doing a favor, because Honor Roll and comic books and secret handshakes just didn't cut it in real life, and F-Stop sure knew a hell of a lot how real life worked. Real life was how your friends better be scared of you, better think you're the biggest and baddest around, or you'll be left alone at the mercy of the enemy.

But then one time he was doing Hawkins a favor, teaching him another important lesson about real life, and then he stops hitting the kid for a second because he hears someone coming, walking down the sidewalk in front of the alley, and then he realizes it's Foley, so it's no big deal, but the kid sort of freezes and looks scared or surprised and just says "V?" And then the backpack that's only on by one strap sort of falls and before F-Stop can think he just charges at him swinging, and he actually manages to get a punch or two in and makes him let go of Hawkins's collar before he remembers that it's just _Foley, _and he knocks him down and he could _kill_ him and he wants too because he's such an idiot, trying to fight him like that, but instead he just says 'Later, Hawkins,' and leaves, because there was just another thing he didn't understand- why would you join in a fight if you knew you were going to lose?

But that look on his face, for a few seconds- that was what had reminded him of Gear.

"Do you like my new zap traps? I made them special for you," says Gear, folding his arms across his chest. He doesn't seem to be doing anything, but an antenna comes out of the robot and begins beeping, so he's probably called the cops.

"I'm honored. You couldn't have at least fucking caught me? You could really get smashed up falling from that high." It wasn't like he had been scared. But he was a superhero- it was his job to be noble and shit, and it sort of pissed him off.

"You _hurt_ him," said Gear, as if that was enough of an explanation. It seemed to be.

"He deserved it. I hope he's out for a good long time. I might be in prison, but everyone else escaped."

"Shut up. He- he'll be fine, okay? But you- you can't hit a guy from behind, it isn't- sportsman-like. 'Cause you know you'd never be able to take him if he _wasn't_ fighting Ebon."

Hotstreak grinned. "But weren't you the one who was supposed to 'cover his back?'"

Wrong thing to say, he realized, when Gear's fist struck him suddenly in the stomach, the one place where he wasn't bound by metal coils. He coughed. "Don't you have someplace you have to be? Like, nursing your lover back to health?"

Gear didn't even flinch at the insinuation. Which was interesting. "Sorry. I'm staying here to _make sure_ the cops get a hold of you. You're going to go to prison." Sure enough, the sound of sirens filled the air moments before a squad of police cars drove up to the building. Gear picked Hotstreak up by the wires, held him and lowered him to the ground, where a couple of wary cops gripped his shoulders.

"I'll get out. Someone will come for me." Gear didn't respond, and Hotstreak wondered if he had called his bluff.

But then the skyward glance of some of the cops told him what was going on, and then Static, looking pissed off and a bit charred swooped down and landed next to Gear.

"G! You okay?" he said, looking over Gear quickly, and then sort of jerked in surprise when he realized that Gear was unhurt and he was captured.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How about you?" Hotstreak didn't get to hear the answer, didn't get the satisfaction of knowing how much he could do to Static, because he was shoved into the back of a police van. But he did see, through the barred window as the doors closed, the way Gear's fingers brushed his arm when he answered, and the stupid nervous laughter like he wasn't sure what more would be okay, and then he saw it- the way they brought their fists together as a sort of compromise, the handshake, and he _knew_, but he also knew that he wouldn't tell Ebon or anyone, because like hell they'd ever break him out of prison unless someone like Talon got put in there too, and maybe he could even understand a little bit now, but he wasn't sure, and by the time the van reached the prison where he'd be confined until convenient, he had convinced himself he had only imagined it.


	5. Mr Foley protects

**Summary:** Mr. Foley just wants to keep him safe. Does that make him a bad father? (A/N: Yes.)

**Disclaimer:** I'm just a pathetic teenage girl who imagines sexual tension between cartoon characters. If you sue, I'll plead insanity.

**Additional Disclaimer:** Remember this additional disclaimer from the Hotstreak chapter? The one saying that I didn't agree with the views of the character whose POV is represented? Well, I just want to make it clear that this goes double- triple- quadruple for this chapter. There isn't any hateful language, but instead a man attempting logic for opinions that I would like to make clear I don't consider logical in any way.

**Rating:** T for language, racist and homophobic themes.

**Platonically**

He just wanted him to be safe. Who could blame him, really? Things were very different then when he had grown up. Perverts snatching children off the streets, gangs and school shootings, drugs and rap music that take good kids like his son and convince them to rebel against their parents and steal and God knows what else, teen pregnancies, and AIDS, and more and more things that keep coming out.

Well, that's not what was so different. They had all that stuff around when he was a boy. He had seen those things all the time. He and his brothers had grown up in a bad neighborhood. He'd never forget his mother's expression when his brother Ryan had spent the night in prison after that bad fight, or how scared he had been when he had gotten robbed on his way home from school. No, the difference was the way people looked at it all, the way you had to look at it. It was the era of 'P.C.,' where parents were supposed to overlook these things, or accept them as normal. So what if your son listens to gang music, and wants to get an earring, and spends all of his time with people that look like the people who made his home growing up an unsafe place to live? In this new generation, this new world, he was supposed to forget all of that, pretend it never happened, and watch as his child is caught up in the mess.

He wasn't going too stand for it. Ever since Richie was born, he'd been working late nights, weekends, holidays, leaving Maggie to take care of the boy herself, and for what? So Richie could live in a place where they wouldn't have to worry about him walking to the bus and riding his scooter to the mall, so that he could get a good education and meet nice people, who wouldn't get him involved in all of that shit that he was supposed to overlook. But this society, this culture, was making his son blind to what was really going on. With the bang, with all those _freaks_ running around town, and you knew which part of town they lived in, after all, and how many of them were people like the Foleys? None of them, just gangs of mutants that worried decent, hardworking people. And he was just supposed to overlook this?

Not for Richie. They told him that Richie was safe, that the places and people he spent time with were safe. But his son had been _kidnapped_ by one of the mutants, and what would have happened if he hadn't been there to stop anything from happening? His son had been _shot_, and only God's grace had saved him from being fatally injured, hanging around those people. His son stayed out late at night, always with a different excuse, and came home looking tired and dazed, sometimes even bruised. And it frightened him. Was he a member of a gang? When he overhead the lyrics of that music he listened too, when he heard the way his son lied and ran off and barely spoke to him, when he saw the clothes he wore and the pierced ear that Maggie had talked him into allowing even though there were only two kinds of boys who pierced their ears, and Sean didn't want his son to be either one, well, then, he was afraid.

Hawkins, who'd had the audacity to lecture him, to look down at him, to treat him like he was a bad father- what did he know? He was only trying to protect his family. The man had no right to lecture him. He could talk all day, defending the hoods and the criminals on the streets, overlooking the problems and being politically correct and looking down on Sean for not following suit, but the truth was obvious, because Maggie was still alive, and Sean would never have allowed _her_ to get mixed up in the riots. If Hawkins couldn't even keep his own family safe, how could he criticize Sean?

He wasn't a bad father. He just wanted his son to be safe.

He _loved_ Richie. He'd had four brothers growing up, and he and Maggie had always wanted a large family. But there had been complications, with the pregnancy- a large family would not be an option, and they hadn't been sure Richie would make it. But he had been born, a bright healthy boy, just the son he'd always wanted to have, and he'd be damned if anyone was going to take that boy away. They'd had their difficult moments, of course- he wasn't always around because of work, wasn't always there to show Richie how to stay out of danger. Richie didn't understand that he had to yell because he was scared, because Richie didn't _understand_, didn't know nearly as much about the world as Sean did, and he had to learn. He had to be kept safe, and to be safe, he had to learn to obey his father.

It had been painful, the first teacher's night that Richie didn't want him to come, the first time Richie pretended to have homework so he could eat dinner in his bedroom, the first time he realized that he didn't know the names of any of Richie's friends. Richie stayed away from home so often, and even when he did come home, he rarely left his bedroom. Was this his fault, because of the fights? Was it normal teenage sullenness?

Then Richie did mention a friend. One night at dinner, more to Maggie than to him, but Sean smiled at the way the boy's eyes lit up when he talked about him, the way he grinned as he recounted one of their adventures together, the excitement in his voice when he announced one day that he had been invited camping with the family, and was going to learn how to fish and pitch a tent. Virgil Hawkins was the name of the friend Sean knew about, and he pocketed and memorized the name, something he knew, a clue as to the kind of person his son had become behind the closed door of his room. Virgil was Richie's best friend, who read comic books, sat with Richie at lunch, and liked a girl named Frieda; Sharon was Virgil's sister who was in college studying psychology and whose cooking Virgil always made fun of; 'Mr. H' was Virgil's dad, who was very cool and let Richie borrow his tool kit from time to time.

So he had thought he'd known about Richie's life, thought he had an idea of what he got up to, a mental picture of this nice kind of family that his son gravitated to. And then he met Virgil, and he realized how little he knew- he realized this was where the rap music was coming from, this was why Richie talked like a hood and wore the baggy clothes and insisted on the earring, _these_ were the people who were taking his son away and exposing him to the world and the danger and turning him into someone Sean didn't recognize.

But it became clear to him that somehow, somewhere along the way, Richie's loyalty had been given to these people, these Hawkinses, this Virgil, instead of to his family where it belonged. It became clear that he could not force Richie to give up this friendship without risking losing his son altogether. So he was forced to accept the boys, and their music, and even the lies, the late nights, the poor excuses. He was forced to accept that only Hawkins would know what the boys got up to, and it made him angry, wondering whether the man would let the boys use drugs or join gangs in their spare time, or worse.

Because he saw that look, the look that was there occasionally, the one Maggie told him was just imagined. But when he looked at Virgil Hawkins with his son, the way Virgil Hawkins _looked at_ his son when the boy wasn't watching, it made him sick. When he saw the way they would walk sometimes, with Virgil's arm just draped around Richie's shoulders, it would make Sean want to strangle him, that pervert who should just _keep his hands off_ his son, his innocent son, taking things as just a gesture of friendship until someone convinced him that this, too, was a thing to be overlooked.

He could accept Richie's earring and clothes and music, he could accept his friends and his interests, but he would not allow that boy to use his son. He only wanted to keep him safe.

**Author's Note:** Well, this was supposed to be Sharon, but Sons of the Fathers was on the other day, and I got inspired. I really love that episode, firstly because it was very brave of such a new show to deal with an issue like that, secondly because they don't make racism a faceless evil, but give it to a guy who has redeeming qualities and a son we all like, and thirdly, because this was really the episode in which I fell in love with Richie, because there's just a way he behaves through the whole thing, when you realize that he is just such an awesome character.

So, um, Sharon next, I guess, unless I get inspired by anything else.


End file.
